The invention relates to the technical field of dispensing machines for wipe materials of the wadding paper type for hand wipe, toilet paper and general-purpose wiping and cleaning applications.
The wipe material may be presented in various configurations which have all been the subject of design work and research carried out by the Applicant who has specialised in dispensing machine technology for roughly 40 years and has filed a very large number of patents.
The wipe material may be wound on a reel and be dispensed by dispensing machines which include a cutting device with automatic or semi-automatic operation. These machines make it possible to use a cutting device located in a drum to cut materials to a predetermined format.
The wipe material may be accordion-pleated by a special-purpose mechanism with a built-in cutting device. An example of this is described in Patent EP 387160.
The wipe material can be pre-cut and, in this case, it is accordion pleated in successive folds. In this configuration, the volume of the material to be dispensed remains compact and, in every case, there is no comparison with a strip of material wound on a reel.
The problem to be resolved by the Applicant is to design a dispensing machine for pre-cut wipe materials wound on a reel.
As far as the Applicant is aware, there is no dispensing machine which meets this criterion. Various attempts to design such a machine have been made but have eventually been abandoned due to major unresolved problems relating to the random nature of the pulling force exerted on the material by the user, the direction of this force and the risks of jamming due to material becoming blocked in the machine. The fact that the wipe material is pre-cut makes it legitimate to question whether there is any need for there to be a cutting device at all. The problem to be resolved then becomes mainly the fact that the wipe material is grasped and removed by users exerting highly variable pulling forces in highly variable directions which interfere with cutting of the strip of material inside the machine and therefore cause malfunctioning. During maintenance, the dispensing machine then has to be reopened and refilled appropriately, i.e. a strip of material has to be left emerging from the machine so that it can be grasped. This is the major difficulty which has prevented the dispensing of pre-cut wipe material wound on a reel.
Having defined the problem to be solved, the Applicant then carried out work and conducted various design studies with the aim of reliably and continuously meeting the need to dispense pre-cut wipe material wound on a reel.
In the context of all this work and research on wipe material dispensing machines in general, the Applicant has developed the concept of a compensating lever which is articulated relative to the housing of the machine, enabling it to act on the strip of material and retract towards the rear of the machine by swiveling through an angle which is proportional to the pulling force in order to create a shock absorbing device. This makes it possible to prevent excessive tensioning of the material, thus avoiding inopportune breaking of the strip of material. This is described in Patent EP 387160.
The Applicant also devised and perfected, in Patent PCT WO 01/30226, the possibility of a pressure roller capable of being elastically pressed against a drum which accommodates a cutting device through the intermediary of two independently articulated levers which make it possible to follow unwinding of the strip of material as a function of the orientation of the pulling force relative to the dispensing machine. In this case, the two levers are structurally identical and attached relative to the side pieces of the housing of the machine and their other end is connected to the pressure roller. It is therefore possible for the two levers to “wiggle” in order to follow and absorb the effects of the wipe material being pulled.
Building on the facts disclosed in these two patents, the Applicant therefore tried to incorporate this solution in a machine for dispensing pre-cut wipe material.
In practice, transferring the knowledge disclosed in these two solutions does not make it possible to ensure reliable operation and dispensing because the Applicant observed jamming of the mechanisms in question.
Building on these documents, the Applicant's approach was therefore to look for a reliable solution, taking into account the environment of the dispensing machine without a cutting device and therefore without a drum against which the strip of material is pressed, in particular in Patent WO 01/30226.
One solution devised by the Applicant is described in Patent Application PCT FR 2009052161 which is defined by the following aspects:
The machine for dispensing wipe material wound on a reel described in this document comprises a wall-mounted housing with a back panel, two lateral panels, a lower base panel and a cover that is articulated relative to said housing and that can be lifted upwards, said back panel accommodating a module which itself has a back panel and two shaped lateral side pieces designed to accommodate the reel of material. The dispensing machine according to the invention comprises a compensating-lever mechanism which is intended to move the pre-cut strip of material back towards the rear of the machine and do so in close combination with lifting or lowering of the cover. This compensating-lever mechanism is externally located either side of the lateral side pieces of the module in the space formed with the lateral side pieces of the housing. The mechanism thus comprises two levers which are articulated relative to each other and between which there is at least one return roller. The first lever has a uniform structure and the second lever is designed with various components which enable Cardan-joint type articulation. The levers are coupled to the arms that are used to raise or lower the cover.
Although the operation of the machine described in Patent PCT FR 2009/052161 is particularly reliable, the machine nevertheless has certain drawbacks due to its high component count and its therefore considerable manufacturing and assembly costs. In addition, the need to lift the cover in order to allow loading of the reel of material is a nuisance even though it can be locked in its raised position. In fact, the operator's movements are obstructed as he grasps and secures the partially finished reel of material that is to be removed and as he reloads the machine with another reel. Moreover, there is no possibility of the user intervening if wipe material jams.
The Applicant has also developed wipe material dispensing machines described in its Patents WO 2009/150342 and WO 2010/089467.